Cold Feet, Hot Story

"The mayor of Duluth (Ga). A pastor from Wilbanks' Baptist church. A spokesperson from the Albuquerque police department. The Albuquerque police chief. Wilbanks' fiance. A friend of Wilbanks' fiance. An FBI investigator. An FBI spokesman. A mental health expert discussing how the family can 'heal.' A clinical psychologist speculating on why Wilbanks took off. Another clinical psychologist. A Georgia district attorney. A New York criminal defense attorney. A law professor and civil rights attorney. 'Another almost-bride,' who talked about 'getting cold feet.'

(I wonder if that's the same woman I saw on MSNBC, who apparently wrote a book on the subject.)

"This, of course, in addition to countless reports from CNN correspondents, some who were on the scene in Duluth, recapping the same information over and over again to the point of numbness. To spice things up, the network played the 911 call Wilbanks made to police."

Jeff Jarvis sees value in the story--to a point: "Aw, come on: The runaway bride story is great entertainment, to be sure. The pictures of that deer caught in the headlights are mesmerizing. The tale of a wedding from hell gone to hell is amusing. But, come on Today et al, is this really the top news story in the country?"

Observations can't get past the phony kidnapping tale:

"What was the purpose of this lie? This is no kid. If it was a 20-year-old girl, you might be able to excuse all of this as youthful stupidity. But Jennifer Wilbanks is 32; she's no immature little girl. And if she did indeed get cold feet, was it really necessary to put her fiancé, her family, and her friends, through days of hell wondering if she was alive or hurt? Efforts to locate Ms. Wilbanks must have cost thousands of dollars, and diverted some law enforcement resources away from real cases to look for this woman.

"So, some questions arise:

"Will sympathy take over, and she will be excused for her crimes and indiscretions? 'The poor little thing. She needs our understanding,' you can hear the apologists saying.

"Will she be charged with a misdemeanor? This is the very least she should get. A stiff fine to pay for the money she caused officials and family to spend looking for her.

"Will she be charged with a felony? This might be more appropriate. A fine, some jail time or probation might get the point across to others who might try the same thing."

The blog Eras End sounds like some of my chat participants:

"If this story is proof of anything, its that press likes to create stories out of nothing. Let's face it, the only reason this became national news is the press was hoping it would be another Peterson case or just as good a dead bride before her wedding...What's really bad is the media is clueless on how this behavior erodes the trust of the public in them."